No one wants to be alone. It is, at heart, a terrifying prospect. And so, this is the great fear played upon by those trying to impose their ideology. The Soviets knew this. So did the East German Stasi. The Nazi’s knew it, too. Everyone in those societies lived in fear of being found out, certainly; but they also lived in fear of being alone, of being ostracized for their beliefs.
According to The Economist and the Kaiser Family Foundation, 22 percent of American adults and 23 percent of British adults are often lonely or feel isolated. For kids, it is even worse. Thirty percent of Millennials say they feel lonely. Twenty-two percent of them say they have no friends. No friends. Consider that. Not a single friend.
There is a young woman, they called her Gun Girl. Upon graduation from Kent State University in Ohio, she posed for a picture with an AR-10 long gun slung across her back. It caused a stir, made her infamous. She took to appearing on college campuses with a video crew asking students provocative questions. In these videos, she is immediately surrounded by hectoring, even vicious, crowds of students. She had to be escorted off campuses by security—often by her own security since the colleges were loath to help her.
What I know is this: Gun Girl had allies in those crowds, allies who were afraid to step out to help her, let alone voice an unpopular position. It is also likely that some of those hectoring her would have been with her even a few months before; but they quickly realized an unpopular opinion is the road to social oblivion.
The Weaponization of Loneliness – Crisis Magazine
The Weaponization of Loneliness – Crisis Magazine
Posted by